Delong’s Delights

General NC State Administration NCS Basketball Required Reading Sidney Lowe89

Just after Sidney Lowe was hired, John Delong of the Winston-Salem Journal wrote an outstanding piece that we never chronicled here and wanted to take a couple of minutes to get it on the site.

Good Call: In Lowe, State gets what it needs … a State guy .

This piece was fantastic. It was the absolute BEST article that we saw in the mainstream media regarding Lowe’s hire. The piece highlighted more of the different complex different elements related to Lowe’s hire.

We will quote Delong’s most recent piece in the comments section of this entry. These are great pieces and we wanted to have them chronicled forever in case you need/want access to them.

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General NC State Administration NCS Basketball Required Reading Sidney Lowe

89 Responses to Delong’s Delights

  1. StateFans 05/16/2006 at 8:34 AM #

    Good Call: In Lowe, State gets what it needs … a State guy
    By John Delong
    Winston-Salem Journal

    RALEIGH – In case you didn’t notice, college athletics became big business a while back.

    That’s why more and more corporate executives and fewer and fewer former coaches are running athletics departments these days. The athletics director continues to be called AD, but he probably should be called CEO.

    Lee Fowler, the AD and CEO at N.C. State, runs a program with an annual budget of about $37 million.

    Fowler will walk to the podium at a news conference this afternoon with a smile on his face and will announce the hiring of Sidney Lowe as the Wolfpack’s new basketball coach.

    This will draw quick cheers from the partisans in the Dail Basketball Complex. It will continue to draw mixed reaction and heated debate in college-basketball circles.

    But it will be a tribute to one of the first rules of business.

    That rule: Keep the customer satisfied.

    Simon and Garfunkel sang a song about the subject long ago, when Fowler was a youngster shooting hoops and dreaming of a future that would take him from the basketball court to the coaching ranks and ultimately into administration.

    There were times during the reign of Coach Herb Sendek when Fowler appeared to have forgotten the tune. Or maybe Fowler was just out of tune with the legions of die-hard Wolfpack patrons who became increasingly disillusioned with their coach even as he was leading the program to five straight NCAA Tournament appearances. Maybe Fowler wasn’t fully comprehending how hard die-hard fans die when rivals come into the RBC Center and win by 24.

    But enough of these maybes.

    Sometime in the past month as the search for Sendek’s successor dragged on, Fowler came to grips with what N.C. State really needs in a basketball coach. He got a guy who knows basketball and knows State. He got a guy who has gone to Chapel Hill and gritted his teeth and refused to back down to Dean Smith, Michael Jordan or anyone else wearing powder blue. He got a guy who satisfied the customers earlier in life to the point that his No. 35 and a 1983 national championship banner hang in the rafters of the RBC Center.

    Maybe Fowler hired Lowe out of desperation after Rick Barnes, John Calipari, Steve Lavin and John Beilein turned down the job. Maybe he did it with deep reservations, since Lowe has never coached a college game or recruited a high-school junior. Ah, we’re getting back to too many maybes.

    But N.C. State is getting back to its essence by hiring one of its own. It is getting back to being N.C. State again, not some generic version of a college-basketball program run by someone who was the coach at N.C. State but was never truly N.C. State’s coach.

    Herb Sendek is a good man who ran a good program and had a good deal of success in the second half of his tenure. But Sendek never did grasp and embrace the unique situation that is N.C. State basketball, and as he proved, he would rather coach in a passionless climate without any demands, realistic or unrealistic. To that end, if you can’t stand the heat, go to the desert.

    So N.C. State is replacing a guy who went by the book with a guy who understands the history books, and figured prominently into the best chapters.

    Fowler is hiring a guy who understands the lay of the land, who is passionate about the school, and who hates to lose to Duke and Carolina more than he likes to beat Delaware and Clemson. Barnes fit that profile too, even though he didn’t go to State. Calipari had the brains and the ego to fit the profile. But they didn’t take the job, so it was on to other options and at some point, an old Simon and Garfunkel song floated into Fowler’s mind.

    This hire gets a thumbs-up for that reason alone.

    And let’s get one thing straight. It is important to keep the customer satisfied. And at N.C. State, it is triple-overtime important to keep the customer satisfied, because this is a situation like few others.

    In New York, daily rides on the subway are a part of life. In Los Angeles, sitting in traffic jams under a haze of smog is a daily part of life. In Denver, breathing in fresh air and looking out over the snow-capped Rockies is a daily part of life.

    In North Carolina, the rivalries among the four Tobacco Road schools are a daily part of life – a huge part of the fabric of the lives of millions. What has happened, what is happening, and what will happen with State, Carolina, Duke and Wake Forest drives more than just sports-talk radio shows. It drives debates at the office water cooler. It drives arguments at home. Most of all, it drives hearts and passions. Do you drive a car with a UNC logo on your license plate, or do you have a State tag?

    So while it was never mandatory for Fowler to cater to the masses and let the lunatic fringe or the media hire his next coach, it was essential that Fowler eventually wise up to why Sendek was a good coach but a terrible fit.

    The lifelong State fans who live in the real world, not some Sendek-esque utopia, understand all the ways their lives are affected when a Wolfpack team is humiliated by the bad guys. And those lifelong, die-hard State fans deserve hope, especially as they continue to pour millions into new university projects. They deserve to be part of the family, and they deserve to feel good about themselves every bit as much as Duke, Carolina and Wake Forest fans.

    Lowe understands that. And when Fowler walks to the podium today to introduce Lowe, it will mean that he is beginning to understand that.

    Maybe there were better coaches out there. Maybe there were safer choices. Maybe Lowe can recruit. Maybe he can’t. Maybe Lowe can draw up the right play at the right time. Maybe he can’t. Maybe State will be able to belly up to the neighborhood bar better soon, or maybe Duke and Carolina will continue to dominate it. Maybe State fans will get disillusioned with Lowe and start driving up the ratings on sports-talk radio again.

    Maybe, maybe, maybe.

    But at least maybe is back in the vocabulary again.

    Maybe Fowler has dug himself a hole with this hire, given the uncertainty of Lowe’s ability to recruit and run an elite program against elite competition.

    But if that’s true, Lowe isn’t a bad guy to be in a foxhole with.

  2. old13 05/16/2006 at 8:47 AM #

    A-M-E-N!! (I’m still not convinced that Foulup gets it, though!)

  3. jncope 05/16/2006 at 8:50 AM #

    Not surprised. John Delong is one of the few sportswriters in the state who is a State alumn.

  4. choppack1 05/16/2006 at 9:04 AM #

    Thanks Statefans – I mentioned in a couple of your other posts w/ open comments that Delong had 2 really good articles as of late. (Actually, one was the post asking for critical articles, I had limited time and had been following Delong’s stuff, so I gave him some deserved props.) The reporting was “State-centric”. Not that it was biased towards State, but they clearly demonstrated that he understood “the problem.”

    Thanks for publishing his articles – he’s done a solid job covering this.

  5. beowolf 05/16/2006 at 9:10 AM #

    Agreed!

  6. Tau837 05/16/2006 at 9:21 AM #

    “at least maybe is back in the vocabulary again”

    Great line that sums up my feelings as a Wolfpack fan.

  7. graywolf 05/16/2006 at 9:45 AM #

    This is why the Lowe hire is the right move for NC State:

    Sometime in the past month as the search for Sendek’s successor dragged on, Fowler came to grips with what N.C. State really needs in a basketball coach. He got a guy who knows basketball and knows State. He got a guy who has gone to Chapel Hill and gritted his teeth and refused to back down to Dean Smith, Michael Jordan or anyone else wearing powder blue. He got a guy who satisfied the customers earlier in life to the point that his No. 35 and a 1983 national championship banner hang in the rafters of the RBC Center.

  8. yankeewolf 05/16/2006 at 9:46 AM #

    Amen brother! Wow…what a refreshing look at the truth!

  9. Dan 05/16/2006 at 9:46 AM #

    The 180 in thinking here from the initial start of the coaching search is bothering me. We have gone from saying that Alumni Status should be inconsequential and, in my opinion, going to too far in saying Lowe should not have even been considered for one second to now saying we agree with this piece that argues his alumni status is THE reason this is a good hire.

    I’m excited about Lowe, and I like that he is a Wolfpacker. However, I want to win more than I want a coach whose number hangs in the rafters. Hanging banners is what matters. Competing at the highest level is what matters. That article is void of any basketball logic and rests on us all feeling warm and cuddly about having our former PG here. I think Sid is up to the challenge of coaching and recruiting. I say ‘think’ because none of ‘know’ anything yet. But I know one thing: The NCAA doesnt hand out free wins to universities that are coached by alum. If Lowe turns out to be the great hire I want and hope him to be, it will be because he is first a great coach and recruiter. The alumni stuff is gravy.

    “Maybe Fowler has dug himself a hole with this hire, given the uncertainty of Lowe’s ability to recruit and run an elite program against elite competition.

    But if that’s true, Lowe isn’t a bad guy to be in a foxhole with.”

    Are you kidding me? Losing is losing. There is one thing I know for sure about losing. It sucks. I dont care who is in foxhole with you. If you are getting pounded, it sucks.

  10. forst8 05/16/2006 at 10:26 AM #

    Great article but he left out one thought and that is that the word “hope” is now back in our vocabulary after many, many years of being absent. I lost that hope 2 years ago and gave up my tickets. I will now take care of that problem because the word “hope” has returned to my vocabulary and to my thoughts about Pack basketball.

  11. VaWolf82 05/16/2006 at 10:29 AM #

    The 180 in thinking here from the initial start of the coaching search is bothering me.

    The authors here at SFN and probably most State fans wanted a home run hire for the next coach…someone who has proven that he can win at the highest levels on college basketball. That didn’t happen. Some of the misses received front page coverage and others did not. I will let the admin here decide whether or not to discuss some of the names that did not receive front page coverage.

    Once you realize that the big hire was not going to happen, then you have moved to the level where there is risk and uncertainity with any of the candidates. Personally, I put Lavin and Beilen in this group along with a bunch of mid-major coaches that have been discussed to death.

    IIRC, there was one thread that said that any mention of Lowe would be deleted. The reason was simple…..he didn’t meet the requirements that State elected to broadcast to the entire world….specifically five years of college head coaching experience and a college degree. It serves no purpose to waste bandwidth discussing a candidate that didn’t meet the requirements.

    For whatever reason, LF decided to waive one requirement completely and hire Lowe since he was close to getting his degree. We as fans have the choice of how to view Sidney’s hire….just like we would with any other decision that LF could have made. For me, I prefer to concentrate on the positive aspects of the hire, while acknowledging that there are questions yet to be answered. But for me, the important point was that there were going to be questions with any of the coaches at the B/C level. If you are going to gamble, why not gamble on one of your own?

  12. choppack1 05/16/2006 at 10:42 AM #

    Good point VaWolf. It’s not like when Herb resigned Lowe was the first candiate that Fowler contacted. He’d reached a point where any hire was going to be a risk.

  13. BJD95 05/16/2006 at 11:11 AM #

    Delong also hit on an important point – both Barnes and Calipari had the “personality profile” of someone who would really “get” our situation. They were obvious “home run” hires, but they didn’t work out. When you get to a certain point in the search, you have to take more risk, and going for an alumnus AS LONG AS HE HAS A SOLID COACHING RESUME makes some sense. You aren’t desparately reaching for an alumnus, but rather getting the best “fit” among relatively equivalent resumes, each with varying components of risk.

    In the end, it’s not Lowe’s alumni status per se that made him the best choice, but rather the FIT between coach and job. We have always stressed the importance of “fit.”

  14. choppack1 05/16/2006 at 11:23 AM #

    BJ – I think there might have been other fits – but I’m convinced that there was a skeleton or two in the closet for some of the “good fits.”

    I also want to say that if the assistant coaches hires tell us anything, it’s that Lowe is decisive and persuasive. Much like Amato’s initial hiring, this element has contributed to the enthusiasm surrounding Lowe.

  15. redfred2 05/16/2006 at 11:26 AM #

    ^Dan, Dan, Danny Boy

    I read through the optimistic posts from many a excited Wolfpack fan, and then there is my old pal Dan, worrying himself sick once again,
    about the cold, hard X’s and 0’s. When a coach goes into the huddle and tells a kid to get off his ass and get out there and stick his man, instead of drawing circles and lines emotionlessly on a dry erase board, you can’t measure that impact. It involves a gut check, emotion, and desire, that can’t be drawn on a board or called up out of thin air. It has to be there every day, in practices and at every meeting. It has been proven, and many times, that the game of basketball can swing on shear emotion and absolute confidence alone. Some people just cannot understand that philosophy until they witness it for themselves, and some still can’t accept that fact, even then.

    Cheer up Danny Boy! I will guarantee there will be four years of constant player improvement, and HEART, back in NC State basketball once again, and although you may not be able to point to a specific play or scheme, things will definitely be taking a turn for the better not too long from now.

  16. tractor57 05/16/2006 at 11:36 AM #

    … player improvement, and HEART, back in NC State basketball once again…

    In a nutshell I think this says why Lowe is a good fit. Alumni status certainly helps but I’m sure it wasn’t the only factor in the hiring decision. Once again there is HEART and FIRE in the BB program. Will Lowe be successful? Who knows but the same could be said about all of the coaching prospects (admittedly more of a concern with certain ones). I hope Lowe can retain the current players and the recruits but regardless of if he does or not I see nothing but improvement – “success” who knows but certainly improvement.
    15 years is a long time in the wilderness and it may take a few more but now I see HEART and FIRE. As Martha Stewart would say “It’s a good thing”.

  17. Hawkeye Whitney 05/16/2006 at 11:38 AM #

    “It is getting back to being N.C. State again, not some generic version of a college-basketball program run by someone who was the coach at N.C. State but was never truly N.C. State’s coach.”

    The sums up the Sendek era perfectly. Herb never made us feel like he wanted to be part of the family. Just one good explosive rant after one of his (many) losses to Duke or UNC would have let me know he was one of us. Instead, it was always like another day at the office.

  18. redfred2 05/16/2006 at 11:43 AM #

    ^I consider improvement, to be success. If it is consistent, it leads no where else.

  19. Wulfpack 05/16/2006 at 11:44 AM #

    Guys I’m not trying to be a skeptic but let’s not get carried away here. I seriously doubt any of you will be saying these same things if Sidney doesn’t get State to the “next level”, which in my mind would be consistent wins over UNC and Duke, top-15 finishes, annual trips to the Sweet 16 with a few Elite 8’s and possibly a Final Four appearance in there. Am I correct in saying that? Or did we hold Sendek to a higher standard just because he wasn’t one of us? What’s more important, results or family?

    Let me caution you in saying that if this so called ‘success’ is to happen, be prepared to allow the necessary time for it to take shape. Pointing the gun at Sendek for raising the profile of the program and establishing consitency wasn’t exactly wise. Statistically speaking, he did a hell of a job considering the shape the program was in when he came aboard. It’s only natural that the program will now take a hit with the transition. The question will be how long will it take Lowe and company to get this thing righted.

    If Lowe hasn’t made a Sweet 16 or beaten UNC and Duke 50% of the time by 2012, are you going to give up on him just as you did Sendek? I’m just asking for a little expectation management here, that’s all. It’s going to take time. Coach K’s early struggles at Duke are well documented. There are countless other examples. And for those guys that seem to transform a program overnight, beware of foul play and the greed to move on to yet another program by way of success. “Quick fixes” can often times put programs in even more of a whole in the long run.

    Lowe will work very hard to make this work, I am confident of that. What I am also confident of is that Sendek also worked very hard, and he’s made his living doing this in the college game. This just isn’t that easy. There are many more “losers” than “winners” judged by our results-based society.

    One last thing — I am still very wary of Sidney’s credentials. I do not think we can simply assume he is going to satisfactorily complete the necessary coursework to get his degree. No matter what was said in any of those meetings with Fowler and Saint Paul’s, Fowler and NC State are taking a risk by hiring a guy who hasn’t yet qualified for the job. Say what you want about how his acquisition of a degree may well be a lock; we all know nothing is guaranteed in this world. Some may ask ‘Do you honestly beleive that Fowler would hire somebody that wouldn’t be able to qualify for the job”? I wouldn’t put anything past him.

  20. Dan 05/16/2006 at 11:56 AM #

    Im excited about Lowe. I just dont agree with DeLong as to the reason to be excited. Its a bogus reason. I really like that its Sid coming in. I do. But thats gravy. That’s not the ‘reason’ to make the hire, and its not the reason he’ll be successful.

    He’ll be successful because he is a good coach and a good recruiter. If he isnt successful, it will be because he wasnt a good coach or recruiter. Now, that he is an alum may mean he can muster up a way to recruit and coach with an increased intensity. Great. But it still comes down to things other than where Sid played college basketball.

    VA, I agree with you on the rest being a gamble. And that Sid and DW had one thing going for them that a Marshall did not in that they love NC State. But that should only be a tie breaker when all other things are equal, which I believe is the case. Its just poor logic to argue that he is a good hire due to him being Sidney Lowe, PG for the ’83 team.

    To be honest, I’m still pretty disappointed with the AD. This search was riddled with problems. The things Im concerned most about, Sid really cant do anything about. Lee Fowler might have created a situation that sets our program back 4 to 5 years (in Herb Sendek years, of course). What I’m hoping is that Sid can make it up in two to three.

  21. redfred2 05/16/2006 at 12:10 PM #

    ^Wulfpack

    If Sidney Lowe is afforded the same latitude that Sendek was given, he will have a life-size bronze on the court square. Once again, you point back to LR and Herb’s plight at the beginning of his tenure. If you guys can hold on out that same mediocrity under Lowe, I am not worried one bit.

    I do not agree that this program is on any solid ground, or much improved over even seven ago, and I know that patience will be very necessary. You guys, the ones who still defend the status quo of the past decade as your ultimate comfort level, are the ones who need to sit back take a reality check now. You need to give this coach a fair chance to disappoint, as well as win, just like you did the last one. I gave Sendek five years to come around, it didn’t happen in ten. Give Lowe and staff the courtesy of five good years and see what happens.

  22. ncsu96 05/16/2006 at 12:15 PM #

    The one point I haven’t seen made is Sidney Lowe is taking risk with his career b/c he loves NC State and is very very loyal to the Wolfpack. Remeber, he wasn’t interested in the job until NC State starting running out of candidates. He decided to put his name ‘in the hat’ b/c he felt he was best candidate at the time to lead the Wolfpack.

    He’s had long NBA assistant career and I would guess is likely to land another head coaching gig in a few years (making at around 2X his NC State salary). The biggest upside to the NC state job for Lowe is opportunity to be back in Raleigh full-time with his family.

    A lot folks are writing about NC State taking risk on Lowe (which is true) but at that point all the choices were risky. Sidney could have stayed within his comfort zone in the NBA but he loves NC State and answered our need.

  23. redfred2 05/16/2006 at 12:18 PM #

    ^Dan

    Are you saying that there is nothing but W-L records and previous exprience involved in coaching. That there are no intangables in the game of basketball. If that is your belief, then you may not enjoy basketball and winning under Sidney Lowe after all.

  24. dabigdog 05/16/2006 at 12:26 PM #

    “A lot folks are writing about NC State taking risk on Lowe (which is true) but at that point all the choices were risky. Sidney could have stayed within his comfort zone in the NBA but he loves NC State and answered our need.”

    ncsu96… I agree wholeheartedly…

  25. jncope 05/16/2006 at 12:52 PM #

    Wulfpack said:

    “…I seriously doubt any of you will be saying these same things if Sidney doesn’t get State to the “next levelâ€?, which in my mind would be consistent wins over UNC and Duke, top-15 finishes, annual trips to the Sweet 16 with a few Elite 8’s and possibly a Final Four appearance in there. Am I correct in saying that?…”

    No. You aren’t correct in saying that. At least I don’t think so. I don’t think Sidney needs to do all of those things. I will take any one of those things. In other words, either (beat Duke and Carolina approximately 50% of the time and finish in top 25 ) OR (have a Sendek-like record vs. Carolina but make the Sweet 16 annually) OR make the Elite 8 every couple of years. Herb didn’t do any of those. In all fairness, not many coaches do all of those things but a good number of coaches do at least one of those things each year. Just give us something more than a last minute “run” to find out on selection Sunday that we made the tournament.

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